Hurricane Katrina struck the United States on August 29, 2005, causing over a thousand deaths and extreme property damage, particularly in New Orleans. The incident affected numerous areas of governance, including disaster preparedness and environmental policy.

Political controversies and electoral consequences

Whether the flood protection designed and built by the federal US Army Corps of Engineers, was mis-engineered or should have held back the storm surge. This issue is complicated by a) the design goals given to the Corps of Engineers by state officials decades past did not request a 100-year flood level protection (which is near ten times as costly as 50-year flood protection) and b) that over-topping of earthen levees will destroy them in a short time by their very design (this is not considered a "failure" by definition), but much more costly concrete levees should not fail in such situations without impact damage from debris which is possible, even under the waterline. "Holding back the storm surge" is only possible for well-maintained levees of appropriate height and strength... the taller the levee, the more it can hold back, and the more it costs to build and maintain. The variation of weather and maintenance budgets makes finding the appropriate "threshold" difficult. Due to this "cost efficiency / diminishing returns" factor, and the weather forecasting ability the primary protection for any flood situation is the proper evacuation of flood-prone areas in a timely manner. Whether loss of coastal wetlands resulted in increased flooding further inland. This question was also brought up by the Mississippi Flood of 1996 which was blamed not only on excessive rainfall but the extensive levee building along the river which attempted to reclaim flood plains for the fertile farming area. Channeling floodwaters via levees will increase storm surge height, and previous levees built may not be tall enough after surrounding areas develop levees. This debate plays directly into the fact that the lower 9th ward itself is a reclaimed wetland/swamp raising flood risk for others around Lake Pontchartrain, raising the ethical issue of rebuilding/pumping out the 9th ward after its flooding. Whether lax state environmental regulations for the storage of toxic chemicals has increased the contamination of floodwaters.

Issues relating to government response

Long-term issues Whether the US Army Corps of Engineers needs reform in their design and construction policies Whether Congress needs reform in the way flood protection projects are chosen and funded Whether policies that affect the poor, such as bankruptcy legislation, should be changed to make it easier for those in poverty to recover from such a disaster. If electoral district changes will occur due to large migration of displaced people (e.g., reducing Louisiana's electoral college votes, and how many congressmen they may contribute to the House of Representatives). The question of exclusive government assistance / compensation funds should be available to Katrina/Rita survivors similar to the funds set up for 9-11 survivors or whether existing social nets are appropriate.

Congressional Committee Establishment On September 15, 2005, it was announced that a Bipartisan Congressional Committee had been established to investigate the United States government's preparations for and responses to Hurricane Katrina. This decision was preceded by many different positions of members of the House of Representatives, which are outlined below.

Arguments for the Establishment of a Congressional Committee Honorable David Dreier was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1980. He was a Republican Representative from California, and served as the House Rules Committee's Chairman. The following information is regarding the House of Representatives' debate and more specifically, Honorable Dreier's viewpoint on whether to establish a Bipartisan Congressional Committee to investigate the U.S. government's preparations for Hurricane Katrina.

Honorable Dreier agreed with President Bush when he claimed that there were many undesirable characteristics of the government's initial response to Hurricane Katrina. In his debate to the House of Representatives, Honorable Dreier expressed that the Federal Emergency Management System's (FEMA) department head had resigned after the events of Hurricane Katrina. He stated that from what happened during the disaster, there were certainly lessons to be taken away. He called for action from his fellow representatives that there must be an acceptance of the Executive Branch's powers to investigate what went wrong in the response to Hurricane Katrina. In his strong declaration to the House of Representatives, Honorable Dreier made it very clear that a Bipartisan Congressional Committee was necessary in order to follow the nation's precedents and traditions.

As well as this, many delegates viewed an independent commission to be a ridiculous idea and redundant of sorts. They believe that Americans wanted immediate solutions to the hurdles they were being faced with as a result of the lack of preparation for Hurricane Katrina.

Arguments Against the Establishment of a Congressional Committee In 1993, Honorable Bennie Thompson was elected to the United States House of Representatives. He was a Democratic representative from Mississippi, and served as the mayor of Bolton from 1973 to 1979. He also serves as the Homeland Security Committee's ranking minority member. Below is information regarding Honorable Thompson's viewpoint on whether to establish a bipartisan Congressional committee during the debate of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Honorable Thompson's opposition began with his perspective that it is not necessary for a Congressional committee to be entrusted with the investigation. He compared Congress being permitted to investigate the government's preparedness to a fox guarding a hen house, in which he stated that the government is not safeguarding what needs to be safeguarded. He strongly believed that instead of establishing a Congressional committee, there should be an independent assessment of where the government went wrong. As the ranking minority member of the Homeland Security Committee, he submitted a document outlining the complexity of the problems regarding what happened during Hurricane Katrina and the need for an independent assessment.

As well as Honorable Bennie Thompson, many other delegates of the U.S. House of Representatives were not shy in sharing their viewpoints as to why there should not have been a Congressional committee established. They gave their perspectives on a variety of issues why a Congressional committee was an inadequate idea. Many members of the Democratic party were not keen about establishing this Congressional committee, as it would have been composed of mainly Republican delegates. The Democrats involved in voicing their opinions did not want the power to be only in the hands of the Republicans, and therefore, voted in opposition of the establishment.

Policies affecting hurricane defenses

Prevention and evacuation issues According to the National Response Plan, the Department of Homeland Security "will assume responsibility on March 1 for ensuring that emergency response professionals are prepared for any situation. This will entail providing a coordinated, comprehensive federal response to any large-scale crisis and mounting a swift and effective recovery effort". Many critics have noted that while Mayor Nagin gave a mandatory evacuation order on August 28, before the storm hit, they did not make sufficient prevention and provisions to evacuate the homeless, the poor, the elderly, the infirm, or the car-less households. Hospitals, nursing homes, and group homes were supposed to have pre-determined evacuation and/or refuge plans in place. Foreign nationals without transport claimed that the police refused to evacuate them, giving bus places only to American citizens.

Despite this, 90% of Greater New Orleans was evacuated—the most successful and complete evacuation of a US city since the American Civil War.

Prior to this, on August 27 the White House issued a statement,Statement on Federal Emergency Assistance for Louisiana. effective August 26, authorizing federal emergency assistance for Louisiana. The statement authorized the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to coordinate disaster relief and "... required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives, protect property and public health and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in the parishes of Allen, Avoyelles, Beauregard, Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Caldwell, Claiborne, Catahoula, Concordia, De Soto, East Baton Rouge, East Carroll, East Feliciana, Evangeline, Franklin, Grant, Jackson, LaSalle, Lincoln, Livingston, Madison, Morehouse, Natchitoches, Pointe Coupee, Ouachita, Rapides, Red River, Richland, Sabine, St. Helena, St. Landry, Tensas, Union, Vernon, Webster, West Carroll, West Feliciana, and Winn." This includes all the parishes in the state of Louisiana except the coastal parishes which are inherently exposed to the most destructive forces of a hurricane. The President had not yet authorized FEMA to enter the coastal areas despite the governor's request including those parishes. The governor activated the National Guard with her August 26, State of Emergency Declarationpage II-4. Red Cross relief in New Orleans remains forbidden by the governor.

According to the Louisiana Evacuation plan, evacuation was mainly left up to individual citizens to find their own way out of the city. It was known that many residents of New Orleans lacked cars. It is also believed that many citizens, having survived previous hurricanes, did not anticipate the impending catastrophe and chose to ride out the storm. Even so, a 2000 census revealed that 27% of New Orleans households, amounting to approximately 120,000 people, were without privately owned transportation. Additionally, at 38%, New Orleans has one of the highest poverty rates in the United States. These factors may have prevented many people from being able to evacuate on their own. Consequently, most of those stranded in the city are the poor, the elderly, and the sick.Amid Stench of Death, Poor Bear the Brunt

State and city evacuation plans ( Part 1 Section C and part II-2) mention use of school buses for evacuation. With the following language: "The primary means of hurricane evacuation will be personal vehicles. School and municipal buses, government-owned vehicles and vehicles provided by volunteer agencies may be used to provide transportation for individuals who lack transportation and require assistance in evacuating." Several hundred school buses were left parked on low ground where they would be easily flooded with storm water and then later by the levee flooding making their use impossible in the emergency evacuation. It is not clear whether these buses were owned by the city or by a private contractor to which the city had outsourced school bus services. Mayor Nagin testified in his hearing in Washington that those buses were owned by the school board and that he had no control over them. The precise number of buses available has been cited anywhere from a few hundredLouisiana Department of Education: Total number of buses . 2003 upload, data for Orleans county shows 324 available buses.New Orleans Times-Picayune: July 08, 2005. to a likely exaggerated 2,000.Washington Times: Not much traction with the abuse. September 6, 2005.